My Top 3 Favorite Scenes from LOST

So last night was the series finale for LOST -one of my favorite TV shows. The show has been praised more times and in better ways than I could describe myself, so I'll let the poets do their thing while I compile a list of my top 3 favorite scenes from the series. These scenes are only a small handful among many that I enjoyed through the years but since I find "Top 10" lists excessive and "Top 5" lists only somewhat tolerable, it's the simplicity of a "Top 3" list that satisfies me on a personal level. So here they are:

Pick #1 - The opening scene from "Pilot, Part 1" in Season One.

This scene set the tone for the entire series. Ambitious from the beginning, it introduced multiple characters within a span of minutes. The production quality was matched by the depth of the storyline, including the varying character arcs that all seemingly revolved around themes of redemption, which came to the unexpected -yet unexpectedly satisfying- conclusion with last night's final episode.

Pick #2 - The cereal scene from "The Whole Truth" in Season Two.

This scene was superbly acted and a fantastic hint as to the future character potential for the "Big Three" of Jack, Locke and Ben that would eventually emerge later in the series. Though this scene is played as straight forward as possible by Michael Emerson, the manner in which he preys on Jack & Locke's fears over the Lostie's ignorance of the hatch and their petty in-fighting was a great glimpse at how manipulative Ben Linus was. And then for him to nonchalantly ask for milk, well, there aren't very many scenes I enjoy more than this one.

Pick #3 - The judgement scene from "Dead is Dead" in Season Five.

I included this one for the simple fact that this is what clued me into the fact that John Locke was the Smoke Monster during season 5. "Less is more" is often said & the fact that Locke was conveniently absent the entire time Ben was being "judged" tossed up giant red flags for me. So the reveal at the beginning of season 6 that Locke was not Locke wasn't as much of a surprise for me as it was for other people. Though there are probably other scenes I could include to round out my Top 3, I just want to briefly brag that I had it figured out before you did. So in your face. :P

As with many of my other friends, I'll miss LOST. I won't approach television shows with the same expectations that I had before the series debuted six years ago. LOST raised the standard for TV and I believe it will be a few years until there is another show as richly complex as LOST has been. Until then I'll be content to keep LOST as my constant, knowing that we're all the variables in choosing for ourselves the next great television series.

2010 Wedding Promo

The Tacoma Wedding Expo is arriving. Since I'm going to be there -although not as a vendor. At least not this year- I spent some time putting together a new promo that features some of my rates and packages for the 2010 wedding season. Travel and secondary photography is not included, but is something that I can definitely add on to my packages and rates. If interested in more details, feel free to email me!

Raising the Stakes

Today I received some big news from back home. As of today, there is a new Crestwood KY Stake. The Louisville KY Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been split to accommodate the growth that has bloomed over the past decade. Some say it's due to the presence of the Louisville, KY LDS temple. I say it's no big surprise. While I was recently in Louisville, I took some time to shoot some photography of the temple. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. Enjoy the photos!

Night Zero Shout Out

So today I received a highly-anticipated email from the production team of Night Zero: my new favorite comic series. They had a photo booth set up during the Emerald City ComiCon. I consider myself lucky to have stumbled upon their table. Produced here in Seattle, Night Zero features a storyline revolving around two of my favorite themes: post-apocalyptic storytelling and zombies. After I learned about the process used to create the series -they shoot each frame in HDR and assemble the images in post-production- I took the Night Zero team up on a chance to have a photo captured in the style of the series. Here I am posing with Marathon, one of the characters from Night Zero. Enjoy!

Bizcard Designing Storm

So one of the upcoming projects that I will be tackling is to finally complete a redesign of my business card and logo. I've had some great ideas in mind for a few weeks, I merely need to buckle down and get to work. Once I have some new cards put together, I'll post them up for a quick review. Until then!

Waiting in the Wings

My flight back from Louisville arrived early. An hour early. So while I patiently wait to head home, I'm taking a moment to post some photos I shot while landing in Cincinnati on the way back to Seattle from Louisville. I don't pretend to know what regulations TSA has for people snapping photos on airplanes nowadays, but I love these two images for their ambiguous simplicity. Leave a comment, let me know what you think. Feedback is always appreciated by yours truly.

On a different note, the memorial service for my grandfather was a thoughtful and enriching celebration of his life. I'm glad that I was able to be there. I'll be sure to post some photos tomorrow, after I've had time to catch up from all this crazy traveling!

One of the Cutest Retro Wedding Invites Ever

I stumbled across this very cute, very retro 8-bit wedding invitation thanks to fellow wedding photographer friend Jason Meehan, of Jason Meehan Photography. Featured on Gizmodo, the invitations were created by the bride and groom and are a throw back to the old-school Mario and Donkey Kong video games.

Take a look for yourself:

The options for play offer both the bride and the groom. It makes me marvel at some of the genius ideas that people come up with for their weddings. Hope you enjoy!